


I Can Explain, But It's a Long Story

by nixster627



Series: Malex Week 2020 [3]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Malex Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25284148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nixster627/pseuds/nixster627
Summary: When Alex left for work this morning, he did not expect to come home to a house caked in mud, what appeared to be dinner on the floor, and his husband nowhere around it all.Written for Day 3 of Malex Week 2020: "I can explain"
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Malex Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828651
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79





	I Can Explain, But It's a Long Story

When Alex left for work this morning, he did not expect to come home to a house caked in mud, what appeared to be dinner on the floor, and his husband nowhere around it all. In fact, he couldn’t seem to find the puppy or little human who made the mud-prints either. That is, until he heard some screaming and then laughing coming from outside.

As he made his way to the backyard, he looked off to the side and saw Michael spraying Buffy and Eli with the garden hose. Eli’s legs and feet were caked with mud and he also had some smeared down his arms and on his face. Buffy, on the other hand, had her entire underbelly thick with mud, but not a spot on the top half of her body.

Michael and Eli were both laughing as Eli was turning around in circles so that the spray of the water would hit him everywhere. Buffy was barking and jumping through the stream of water every once in a while.

When Michael looked over and saw Alex, the smile immediately dropped from his face, along with the hose in his hand, and with a panicked look, he quickly rushed out, “I can explain.”

“You can explain why there is mud all over the house or you can explain the reason you are washing them off with a hose instead of in a bathtub?” Alex asked, but the smile on his face betrayed the seriousness of his tone.

“Both?” Michael asked, sounding uncertain of himself, but the smile was back on his face.

“Well, I would love to hear that explanation _after_ we get these two into a bath,” Alex said, pointing at where Eli had picked up the hose to hold over himself and Buffy.

After successfully getting Eli and Buffy into the bathtub without tracking any more mud into the house, Alex looked around the kitchen and living room and decided that Michael should clean up the mud, but that he should clean up the food on the floor before Buffy tried to eat it first. He also figured that he should just order a pizza, since it seemed like all of the food Michael had prepared ended up on the floor. In all fairness, it was just spaghetti and a salad, but pasta sauce and salad dressing were a bitch to try and clean off the tile in the kitchen, especially where it got into the little crevices between the tiles.

Just after the pizza arrived, Eli flew out of the bathroom in his little unicorn robe chanting “I smell pizza!” over and over again, but never actually making a move get a slice, the five year old’s mind complexes him. All of his running around seemed to stir Buffy into a frenzy as she tried to wriggle out of Michael’s hold as he was trying to dry her off. Alex guessed that Michael was using his telekinesis in order to keep her in place.

“Hey, bud,” Alex says in order to get Eli’s attention. When Eli actually looks up at him, he continues, “do you actually want to get a slice of pizza, or just keep announcing its presence?”

“Yes,” Eli responded as he did both by yelling “pizza!” all the way over to get his slice from the counter and went to sit at his place at the table.

When Michael came over to the counter to get his own slice of pizza, Alex asked him, “Can I get that explanation now?”

Michael looked sheepish for a moment, saying, “Well, what had happened was…” before explaining that Sanders called him in for help with a car and he decided to bring Eli along, but then it started raining and instead of going under the roofing, Eli thought it would be a good idea to explore the junkyard. That led to him slipping over a stray hubcap and getting mud all over himself. 

When they got back home, Michael left Eli in the backyard to play with Buffy while he cooked dinner and drew Eli a bath, but then Eli came running in the house to show Michael the butterfly he found. But, when he opened his hands to show Michael the butterfly flew away from him so he chased it around the house and then when he was running through the kitchen he tripped over Buffy and tried to catch himself on the counter, but instead he ended up taking the dinner down with him. 

So, as a way to get Eli to stop crying after falling on the floor and spilling dinner, he decided that he could kill two birds with one stone by washing Eli down and letting him play with the hose at the same time.

After the story, Alex was so stunned that he just looked at Michael with an open mouth for a solid minute. And yet, after all of that, the first thing he says is, “So, what happened to the butterfly?”

Michael gave him a look that was partially confused, but also full of love and adoration for the man standing in front of him. “I don’t know actually. I think it flew back outside, but now you know to not be surprised if you just happen to see a butterfly hanging out in the house.”

Alex just nodded and walked around Michael to grab his own piece of pizza before starting to walk towards the table to eat with Eli. The next thing he knows, Michael is tugging on his shirt in order to turn him around.

As Michael loops his arms around Alex’s neck, he asks, “Is that really the only question you have? After all the events that happened today, you only want to know about the butterfly?”

“I think you handled the situation very well,” Alex said and looked Michael up and down, noticing how wet his shirt and pants got from giving Eli and Buffy a bath, “and you looked damn good while doing it.” Alex took a step closer and leaned in, so that he was completely pressed against Michael, and wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist. His lips were only a hair away from Michael’s, and just as Michael went to close the space between them, Alex said, “but you do know that you’re the one who has to clean up all the mud.” And with that, he grabbed his plate and walked over to the dinner table.

Michael just chuckled a bit before grabbing the whole pizza box in order to bring it over to the table with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have attached myself to Eli, so expect him in more of my Malex Week fics and just overall fics in the general future.


End file.
